Feral Hog Toll Mounts in Battle for Missouri’s Wildlands
By Jim Low, Missouri Dept. of Conservation
First posted on 09-14-2009
The outcome of Missouri’s war against feral hogs remains uncertain, but conservation officials are gathering intelligence behind enemy lines and marshalling forces for a pitched battle.
Missouri currently is in the early stages of a feral-hog population boom. Swine ranging from domestic porkers to hog-wild descendants of razorbacks and Russian boars exist as established populations in 20 counties, mostly in southern Missouri. Another 19 areas scattered all over Missouri have isolated feral-hog populations.
In almost every case, these populations grew from animals released deliberately to create hunting opportunities. Unfortunately, those opportunities come with serious liabilities.
Rex Martensen, who is in charge of the Missouri Department of Conservation’s feral-hog control effort, says hogs running loose create ecological havoc, taking acorns and other natural foods away from wildlife They root up large expanses of forest and field in search of roots, bulbs, small mammals and the eggs of ground-nesting birds, including quail and turkeys. They also invade crop fields and pastures. Crops planted as food plots on conservation areas are favorite targets of wild hogs.
As if that were not enough, feral hogs seek out springs, seeps and fens where they wallow, creating erosion and fouling streams with their feces.
Most feral hogs weigh less than 200 pounds, but they can grow to more than 500 pounds. Regardless of size, sharp tusks and an aggressive disposition make feral hogs dangerous.
Feral hogs also pose an economic threat to Missouri. In 1992, the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) imposed quarantine on several thousand acres in Carter, Shannon, Oregon and Ripley counties after feral hogs in the area were found to have pseudorabies. Wild hogs can carry the pseudorabies virus without serious symptoms, but the disease is fatal to many other wild and domestic animals.
Missouri’s domestic swine are considered disease free and a good source for safe, healthy pork products. However an outbreak of swine brucellosis or pseudorabies from feral hogs into domestic swine could severely cripple Missouri’s pork industry, creating a negative economic impact that would affect the entire state.
Besides pseudorabies, feral hogs can carry leptospirosis, swine brucellosis, swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever and several other potentially devastating diseases. A federal quarantine to prevent the spread of such diseases would be enormously damaging to Missouri agribusiness.
Swine brucellosis can infect humans, causing a malady known as undulant fever. This can cause arthritis, urinary inflammation, meningitis, heart inflammation and depression.
The Conservation Department has opened two fronts in its war on feral hogs. One is in Iron, Reynolds and Wayne counties – the epicenter of a large infestation in the Ozarks. This area encompasses thousands of acres of state and federal land and some of the state’s most fragile ecosystems – glades and fens. The other area is public land in west-central Missouri.
Since Jan. 1, Conservation Department workers have removed more than 200 hogs from conservation areas or surrounding private property where landowners have asked for help. Efforts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) bring Missouri’s 2009 hog-removal total to nearly 400.
While this is better than nothing, Martensen says much more effective measures are needed. Feral hogs are so prolific they can maintain a stable population with 70-percent annual losses.
“We aren’t anywhere near that,” said Martensen. “At present, we are only slowing the growth of the feral hog problem, not stopping it. Our goal is to eradicate hogs from state land. However, we would still consider it a success if we eliminated them from some areas and contained their spread in others.”
So far this year, the two most effective hog-removal methods have been aerial gunning from a helicopter and catching hogs in corral-type traps with one-way doors. Other methods, including snaring and sharpshooting with night-vision equipment, are less effective, but still valuable for removing remnant hog populations following trapping and aerial shooting work.
The Conservation Department continues to develop new techniques and strategies for hog removal. One technique that has not panned out as well as hoped is the use of Judas pigs. This is intended to take advantage of hogs’ social nature. A trapped hog is fitted with a radio-tracking collar and released. In theory, hog eradication crews should be able to follow the collared pig back to its herd. However, the success of this method has been limited at best.
Spying plays a role in every war, and the Conservation Department’s hog hostilities are no exception. Trail cameras are a valuable tool in anti-swine espionage. These cameras have become popular with deer hunters in recent years. Triggered by motion or infrared sensors, they take digital photos or videos of passing wildlife 24 hours a day.
“Let’s say you know from your trail camera that you have 15 pigs in a group,” said Martensen. “If you find five adults in a trap, you know you’ve got more work to do.”
An even more sophisticated way of gathering intelligence behind enemy lines involves unwitting informants. The Conservation Department fits captured hogs with GPS (global positioning system) collars that record the animal’s position every 2.5 hours. The resulting data reveal where hogs go at different times of day, night and year. They also provide insights about how hog behavior changes when they are pursued by trappers or hunters. This information could facilitate post-trapping/hunting mop-up operations.
“When that study is done it will have national impacts,” Martensen said. “It is going to be pretty significant in the feral-hog world.”
Martensen calls the current strategy of each agency pursuing feral hog eradication on its own land a “shotgun approach.” He said the multi-agency Feral Hog Task Force created by Gov. Blunt in 2007 is discussing a concerted effort in a selected area to see what they can accomplish by focusing all their resources in a limited area. This is a good fit for the current stage of Missouri’s feral-hog problem, which still consists of isolated populations that could be eradicated one by one.
“If it works, then we apply those methods to other areas of the state,” said Martensen. “If it doesn’t work, then we identify why it doesn’t work and see if we can fix it and take another run at it.”
The Conservation Department has budgeted $45,000 this fiscal year for the feral-hog fight. This covers traps, bait, all-terrain vehicles, firearms, ammunition, remote cameras and other equipment and supplies, but not staff time. Personnel from several of the agency’s divisions take part in the work, but none devotes full time to the effort.
Prosecuting a war takes money, and the current economic situation affects feral-hog eradication work. Like other state agencies, the Conservation Department faces shrinking revenues and staff reductions.
“At some point, we need to have more serious funding for hog eradication,” said Martensen, “but with the economic downturn that probably won’t happen any time soon. In the meantime, we are working on making the public aware of why feral hogs are bad and why we need to get rid of them. We don’t want to be a hog hunting state like Texas or Arkansas.”
We'd like to hear your thoughts on this article. Reader input is what we're all about at freshare, so please feel free to comment.
More from the Nature and Wildlife Section:
RSS feeds
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Facebook- TheOzarksOutdoors Channel on YouTube
- Enter your email address to receive our free newsletter:
Comments:
we need more mountain lions, we cant keep taking on the role of top predator, we need to let nature gets its balance back
Ill agree with Williamson and Douglas it aint gonna happen they reproduce too fast but a lot of people dont have the guts to hunt them and the conservation Department isnt doing any good go ahead and try to prove me wrong and dont think i dont have the guts just for the challenge im going with four other guys and we are taking nothing but small caliber firearms and hunting knives
Another way to do it is to talk big and brag about a lot of stuff. Dont let your actions show how good you are, let your big talk explain it all. Talk about how tough you are, but dont ever practice and put your time in. Just big talk it, that’ll getcha by, big man. I think this will work for the hogs.
Another thing you can do is act like a big man. You know talk big and brag and stuff. Make it as if through the talk it somehow makes you a good bare knuckle fist fighter. Bluff around about how good you are at something even though you hardly practice at all. Thats the way to get rid of them hogs, tough guy..
You can set traps, run dogs,use hog snares, shoot them from helicopters but your not going to be able to eradicate wild hogs its just not going to happen. Sows are able to reproduce like rabbits triple there numbers in a year time. Now you can control the population greatly by using these methods stated which makes for happy land owners. Take it from me im a South Texas hog hunter i run dogs, set traps, use snares the works. I will be moving to the Southwest Missouri area in Greenfield MO. let me know recruit me for the hog task force.
I have hog hunted for several years in missouri now and had some sucess. When I first started the conservation had a detailed list of sightings by using roads and county grid graphs telling wheather it was wallows or actual hog sightings they had encountered.Since then I either have forgotten the website or they have quit doing it. That website was responsible for several of my hogs I collected and a lot of REAL GOOD areas to hunt. Unfortunatly due to 4 wheelers on logger roads, people running them with dogs, and just general human presence they have dispersed from alot of the places and I have resorted to long hikes tracking them, which are wins in thier own way. If anyone knows of a website that has that kind of info. on them now i would be VERY appreciative in the sharing of the name of it. Im always looking for fellow hunters that are willing to go with me to run these boogers down. The problem that arises is people dont realize without recent sighting info I usually end up walking around 20 miles between kills lol! Please email me with info on a website qith the info I dearly want, or if you have a place you want to hit Im ready for a new adventure. ridgerunner79@gmail.com is how you can get me thanks and good luck
Hello,
I have been doing some extensive research on the feral hog problems in the lower states. The company I work for may have a solution that could help some of the rural folks out there. We have been supplying electrified netting to the USA for nearly three decades. These netting applications are built specifically for each specie and have been successful against everything from rabbits to mountain lion and bear.
We currently have a pig net for sale that is being used primarily for pastured animals but could be modified and/or tweaked to keep out the feral hog. They are perfect for keeping predators away from gardens, yards, food plots, orchards, crops, etc. They can also be hooked together for longer runs. I realize that this will not help with the overall population, but it will help folks keep these animals somewhat at bay, and if done on a large scale would force them into larger groups because of decreased acres to roam. In that sense they would be easier to trap and/or to kill. You may see these nets at www.premier1supplies.com.
I plan to travel to these states to view the terrain, talk to some people, bring along some nets and set them up to test the areas and see what we will be up against. I would greatly appreciate it if you could pass me along to some contact people in the area for a possible visit. The more I can learn about these animals the more I can get a netting application designed to fence them out. I look forward to hearing from you along with any additional ideas that could help. Thanks for your time and have a good day.
this pretty much sums it up, but one thing people need to understand is the time is now not tomorrow to eradicate these feral hogs from Missouri! I think the solution is concentrated hunts in target areas where the feral hog is prone to reproduce and make efforts of eliminating them tough due to heavey foliage and where the food is plentiful that would of course fuel fire to the problem!!!
Could maps of possible sightings be provided to hunters?
I would like to hunt these hogs but have no idea where
they are located.
One great way to to rid Missouri of its hog problem is to have a bounty,it doesn’t have to be alot with the way the economy is!